Egg-candling apparatus.



E. MITCHELL & J. H. KEERAN.

EGG GANDLING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED 111111.15. 1911.

1,010,512. Patented De0.5,1911.

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ENOS MITCHELL AND JOSEPH H. KEERAN, OF OSCEOLA, IOWA.

EGG-CANDLING- APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 15, 1911. Serial No. 621,410.

Patented Dec. 5, 1911.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, Enos MrroHELL and JOSEPH I-I. KEERAN, citizens ofthe United States of America, and residents of Osceola, Clarke county,Iowa,have invented a new and useful Egg- Candling Apparatus, of whichthe following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide improved means for receiving,holding and applying light to eggs in order to test said eggs as totheir age and condition.

A further object of this invention is to provide improved means forreceiving and testing eggs intended for table use and also to facilitatepacking of the eggs for transportation and storage.

Our invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combinationof elements hereinafter set forth, pointed out in our claims andillustrated by the accompanying drawing, in which- 1 Figure 1 is a frontview showing the device in open position. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectionof the device at right angles to Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan of the devicein closed position.

In the construction of the device as shown a housing is provided whichhousing preferably embodies a rear wall 10, side walls 11, 12, a frontwall 13 and a cover 14. The rear wall 10 and side walls 11, 12preferably are formed with base flanges 15 provided with holes adaptedto receive screws for attaching the housing in upright position to asuitable support such as a floor (not shown). The side walls 11, 12 areformed with vertical flanges 16 on their forward margins adapted toreceive and slidingly engage hook flanges 17 on side margins of thefront wall 13. The front wall 13 also may be provided with a base flange18 adapted to come in contact with the support. It is the function ofthe base flange 18 to stiffen the lower portion of the front wall 13 andalso provide means for engaging by a foot of the user to depress thefront wall to the support. All of the walls of the housing preferablyare formed with draft and ventilating ports 19.

The side walls 11, 12 are connected adjacent to the front wall .13 bycross-bars or stays 20. Angle bars 21 are fixed to the side walls 11, 12adjacent to the upper margin of the front wall 13 and a transparentplate 22, preferably of glass, is mounted on said bars and extendsacross and forms a horizontal position within the housing. Angle bars 23are fixed to the walls 10, 11, 12 of the housing above the plate 22 anda transparent plate 24, preferably of glass, is removably andreplaceably and slidingly mounted on said bars. The plate 24 is spacedfrom the upper margins of the walls 10, 11, 12 sufli with a plurality ofopenings 27, preferably corresponding in number with the cells of thesection25 ofthe egg-case-filler and registering therewith when the coveris closed.

It will be observed that the upper margin of the front wall 13 is belowand spaced from the plate 22, but it may be made flush with said plateif desired.

It will be observed that ventilating ports 19 are provided between theplates 22, 24 in the walls 11, 12 supplementary to the open space in thefront of the housing between said plates. Illuminating means, such as alamp 28, are mounted within the housing. Any desired illuminating meansmay be employed.

In practical use of the device, after illuminating means is supplied tothe housing a cell section 25 is mounted on the plate 24, the cover 14is in open position, and eggs 29 are placed in the cells of the section25 and rest on the plate 24. This can be done very rapidly by using bothhands of the operator to lift the eggs from receptacles located onopposite sides of the housing, the operator facing the front wall of thehousing. When the cell section 25 is filled with eggs the cover isclosed, thus causing the illumination from the interior of the housingto be diffused through the eggs and enabling the operator to detectvisually any defects, addling, staleness or incubation of the eggs byglancing at them rapidly and successively as they are revealed throughthe holes 27 Any egg below the standard of excellence adopted by theoperator may be removed readily and conveniently from the cell sectionby opening the cover 14 and when all such have been removed andsubstituted by eggs of passing quality the operator opens the cover andremoves the plate 24, cell section 25 and eggs thereon and deposits saidcell section and the eggs therein in any desired place such as in ashipping case (not shown) by sliding the section and eggs off from theplate 24 to and upon a plate placed to receive them. The latter platemay be a table or horizontal partition of an egg-case-filler and in theevent an eggcase-filler is used to receive the eggs, the egg-casecontaining the same should be of the side or end opening variety ortype. Then the plate 24: is replaced and another cell section 25 ismounted thereon to receive a further supply of eggs to be tested.

Access is had to the interior of the housing by moving the front wall 13vertically.

It is the function of the plate 22 to protect the plate 24 and eggsthereon from the heat of the illuminating means, and said plate 22 maybe omitted when it is not needed for such purpose.

We claim as our invention- 1. An egg-candling apparatus, comprising ahousing, illuminating means in said housing, a transparent horizontalpartition in said housing, a cell section on said partition and adaptedto receive eggs, and an apertured cover on said housing, the aperturesof said cover registering with the cells of said section.

2. An egg-candling apparatus, comprising a housing, one wall of saidhousing being slidingly mounted, illuminating means in the lower portionof said housing, parallel transparent spaced plates in the upper portionof said housing, the uppermost plate adapted to receive a cell sectionand eggs therein, and an apertured cover on said housing, the aperturesof said cover registering with the cells of said section.

3. An egg-candling apparatus, comprising rear and side walls, a frontwall slidingly mounted on the side walls, angle bars on the rear andside walls, transparent plates mounted on said angle bars in spacedrelations, a cell section mounted on the uppermost transparent plate andadapted to receive eggs, illuminating means beneath the lowermosttransparent plate, and an apertured cover hinged to said rear wall andadapted to be closed upon said side Walls. I

Signed by us at Osceola, Iowa, this 16th day of March, 1911.

ENOS MITCHELL. JOSEPH H. KEERAN. Witnesses O. M. SLAYMAKER, GERTRUDE Y.MAOLEAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

